Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to establish a clear and consistent definition of good quality mobile connectivity, beyond coverage alone.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for Telecommunications, the Management of Radio Spectrum, and Postal Services sets out a priority for Ofcom to keep under review its definitions of what constitutes “good” 4G and 5G and the signal strength thresholds it uses to measure this, so that these definitions continue to reflect consumer and business expectations as user requirements and behaviours evolve.
In parallel, the Government is undertaking a Mobile Market Review to assess the impact of technological, structural and financial market developments on investment in comprehensive high-quality mobile connectivity.
As part of the call for evidence to inform the review, we are asking for detailed evidence on how the Government should think about, and define, ‘good’ mobile coverage in relation to the quality of service provided to consumers, businesses and the public sector and what steps could Government take to ensure operators are able to provide this. We will use these responses to further inform policy on this issue. The call for evidence was published on 10 February 2026 and closes 5 May 2026.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what targets her Department has set for improving the UK’s position in the global space economy.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK has a strong position in the global space economy that the government is committed to maintaining. Building on our countries space heritage and deep pool of skilled talent, supportive regulation, and world-leading financial systems, the UK captures around 5% of the global market, leads Europe in private investment, and ranks third globally for private space company investment. Through our One-Government approach, we are developing capability in priority space subsectors where the UK can grow, compete, and lead internationally, supporting economic growth and competitiveness while strengthening national security and resilience.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research funding the Government is providing for conditions such as Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including conditions such as normal pressure hydrocephalus.
These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on conditions such as normal pressure hydrocephalus to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years, through the NIHR, the Department committed £1.72 million for 11 new research projects, supported by NIHR infrastructure, into normal pressure hydrocephalus and hydrocephalus more broadly. This includes committing £0.59 million in the 2024/25 financial year alone.
Details of NIHR funding allocated to individual research awards are openly published and updated quarterly on the Open Data page of the NIHR website, at the following link:
https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/explore/
The NIHR also works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation, which is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and which includes the Medical Research Council, to fund research into a range of conditions, including normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what consideration she has given to the potential merits of introducing mandatory minimum cyber resilience standards for strategically important firms and supply chains.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 provides the UK’s only cross-sector cyber legislation, focused on protecting the security and resilience of essential services. The regulations impose security duties on Operators of Essential Services (OES) and relevant digital service providers (RDSPs) to take "appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures" to manage risk and prevent and minimise the impact of cyber incidents.
The Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill, introduced in November 2025, updates these regulations to ensure it is fit for today, and the future. It will cover a wider range of critically important entities, including data centres and large load controllers and relevant managed service providers (RMSPs). The Bill will also allow, through secondary legislation, for security and resilience requirements to be set for regulated entities. Our proposals for this legislation will be linked to existing, high level security duties and be consistent with the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework.
Regulators will also have the power under the Bill to designate certain suppliers as “critical” if a compromise or outage in their systems can cause a disruption to their services that would have serious, cascading impacts for our society and economy. Proportionate cyber security and resilience duties and requirements to applying to those designated suppliers, with associated requirements will be developed through secondary legislation and guidance. This will ensure that these critical suppliers have the appropriate cyber security and resilience measures in place, helping to protect the UK’s critical infrastructure from disruption.
The Bill sits alongside other regulatory regimes, such as for public telecoms providers and financial services, and a range of other tools to help organisations actively improve their cyber resilience. For example, the government offers the Cyber Essentials certification scheme to prevent the most common cyber attacks. Organisations with Cyber Essentials are 92% less likely to make a claim on their cyber insurance than those without it.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Valuation Office Agency delays on residents in West Dorset.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office is improving performance in a number of ways, including moving people onto areas of high customer demand, continued investment in IT improvements and piloting using new technology to streamline ways of working. Performance is improving month-on-month and integration with HMRC offers further opportunities to improve how it delivers its services and accelerates modernisation. It is working as quickly as possible to clear cases and continues to prioritise older cases and cases where customers are experiencing financial hardship.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to improve Valuation Office Agency service delivery in West Dorset.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office is improving performance in a number of ways, including moving people onto areas of high customer demand, continued investment in IT improvements and piloting using new technology to streamline ways of working. Performance is improving month-on-month and integration with HMRC offers further opportunities to improve how it delivers its services and accelerates modernisation. It is working as quickly as possible to clear cases and continues to prioritise older cases and cases where customers are experiencing financial hardship.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the concentration of ownership of UK mobile towers among wireless infrastructure providers; and what assessment she has made of the implications of this market structure for competition and mobile coverage.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continually monitors developments across the mobile market to understand how they may shape investment in comprehensive, high-quality mobile connectivity that is secure and affordable for consumers and business.
On 10 February, the Government published the Mobile Market Review call for evidence, inviting stakeholders to provide detailed evidence on the technological, structural and financial developments across the mobile ecosystem and how they impact investment, competition and consumer outcomes, and on what further actions the Government could take to support these objectives.
The call for evidence closes on 5 May. The Government encourages all relevant stakeholders to engage with the process and provide robust evidence to help inform future policy development.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to reduce processing times within the Valuation Office Agency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office is improving performance in a number of ways, including moving people onto areas of high customer demand, continued investment in IT improvements and piloting using new technology to streamline ways of working. Performance is improving month-on-month and integration with HMRC offers further opportunities to improve how it delivers its services and accelerates modernisation. It is working as quickly as possible to clear cases and continues to prioritise older cases and cases where customers are experiencing financial hardship.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of ownership of UK mobile towers among wireless infrastructure providers; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that market structure on competition, pricing and mobile coverage.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government continually monitors developments across the market to understand how they may impact investment in comprehensive, high-quality mobile connectivity that is secure and affordable for consumers and business.
On 10 February, the Government published the Mobile Market Review call for evidence, inviting stakeholders to provide detailed evidence on how technological, structural and financial developments across the mobile ecosystem may impact investment, competition and consumer outcomes, and on what further actions Government could take to support these objectives.
The call for evidence closes on 5 May, and the Government encourages all relevant stakeholders to engage with the process to help inform future policy development.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 21 of her Department's report entitled Department for Transport annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July 2025, if she will provide a breakdown of the £644 million expenditure on Sustainable travel, including (a) the projects and programmes funded and (b) the amount allocated to each.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Page 21 of the Annual Report & Accounts is the ‘Financial Overview’ report, which presents total departmental spending by Estimate Line. ‘Sustainable Travel’ is an Estimate Line descriptor shown in the Statement of Parliamentary Supply within the 2024-25 Annual Report & Accounts. This Estimate Line records spending incurred by the Core department and Active Travel England. A breakdown of the spending incurred in 2024-25 is provided in the table below.
| Capital DEL | Resource DEL |
Business area | Amount £m | Amount £m |
Active Travel England | 54 | 82 |
Decarbonisation, Technology and Strategy Group | 398 | 37 |
Rail Strategy and Services Group | 19 | 15 |
Road Transport Group | 17 | 22 |
Sub-total | 488 | 156 |
Overall total | 644 | |